You'll Be in My Heart
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: This one-shot takes place after Gothel's dark curse is finally broken. Alice is afraid for her father after Rogers risked his life in order to help his daughter to defeat Mother Gothel. She goes to the hospital that evening to see him so she can see for herself that he's going to be alright, unable to do more than just watch him through the glass window from outside of his room.
1. Chapter 1

You'll Be in My Heart

One-Shot

At last, Gothel's dark curse which had been cast over those living within Hyperion Heights for over two years to keep them believing they were all someone they weren't, was finally broken and the tree nymph who had chosen hate instead of love was finally defeated thanks to Alice. Only, the young woman knew it wasn't only her powers as the Guardian which had allowed for her to do so. But the love and strength shown to her by her friends, the woman she loved, and mostly because of her father as they all stood against Gothel together.

When almost everyone returned with Regina and Henry to Kelly & Roni's Pub to celebrate the breaking of the curse and the reunions with their loved ones, Alice reluctantly entered the hospital and walked through its halls until she came upon the room she was looking for and stared sadly through the glass window at her father lying unconscious before her thanks to the poison within his heart that had flared drastically because of his sacrifice to help her stand against the evil woman who's haunted him since their first encounter many, many years ago.

The invisible girl who had been known as Tilly until that evening stood there staring at the man who hadn't known who she really was to him, but had taken her in when no one else believed in her, because he did. Alice needed to see for herself that he would be alright and yet as she continued to look at him now, she didn't know despite the doctor's assurance that he would be. Seeing him so ill and in such pain frightened her. She'd seen it before very briefly while they still lived in the Enchanted Forest, but his poisoned heart had never hurt him this bad back then.

While Alice continued to watch on sadly as tears slipped down her cheeks, her thoughts drifted back to their stand against her mother, who she didn't see as her mother in her heart since a mother could never be so cruel, she struggled to determine whether or not there was any other way she could have found the strength needed to defeat Gothel. The truth was, she still saw herself as Tilly in that moment. The frightened and weak young girl who was useless to anyone and only her father made her stronger.

 _"_ _Oh, Henry," she recalled hearing Regina say to her son when she entered the garden alongside Robin and Rumplestiltskin, so they could make their stand against the villain and stop her from completing her new curse on the world, as Henry helped his mother stand up again and turn to face Gothel before Regina ignited a fireball within the palm of her hand._ _"_ _I'm just glad to have you back._ _And my magic."_

 _"_ _It's not enough, Regina," the nymph responded smugly, as she easily snuffed out the flames which the Queen fired at her, then started towards her and Henry to return with an attack of her own._

 _However, she spun around quickly when Gold stepped forward while Alice and Robin followed close behind him and he answered, "_ _Maybe. But perhaps your daughter's magic will be."_

 _Regina quickly replied in relief, "_ _Gold."_

 _"_ _My daughter's with me now, Dark One," Alice remembered hearing Gothel respond to him while she turned and started walking towards them, then turned her eyes on her. "Come here, Tilly."_

 _"She was never with you," her friend and former detective continued when Tilly shook her head out of fear. "And now she's gonna be the one who stops you."_

 _Tilly immediately turned her head to glance over at the man beside her upon hearing what he had just told the woman standing against them, then she curtly retorted, "What? No. I can't fight her. She's a monster. She's too strong."_

 _And that was when her fear became very real, when her father… the man who had been Detective Rogers until only a short time ago, appeared behind her standing weakly only a few feet away, holding his hand heavily over his heart when the poison within it began to flare the closer he walked nearer to her, as he unfalteringly answered, "Not half as strong as you, Alice."_

 _"Papa, please," Alice pleaded with him when she, Robin, and Gold all turned around in surprise to find him there knowing the risk of what he was doing, then she started to back away when her fear grew as his agony only intensified the closer he got to her._

 _"I know you're afraid," Rogers continued._

 _She stepped back again while she sadly replied, "You're hurting yourself. You're growing weak."_

 _But her father never stopped despite his gasps for breath while he struggled through his anguish and responded, "No, I'm finally growing strong. You make me stronger."_

 _"Yet every step you take, your heart grows weaker," Gothel said cruelly and smugly as she relished in Hook's pain._

 _"You can do this," Rogers answered again once he was finally standing beside his daughter and breathed heavily while he reached out to take her hand in his own, as Alice looked at him with admiration and the newfound strength he had hoped to instill within her. "I'm here with you."_

 _Rogers raised his prosthetic hand up to his chest as he continued to fight the pain, then Robin swiftly reached down to take her other hand as well and replied, "And so am I."_

 _Henry and Regina smiled at them from behind the villainess between them as Gothel responded angrily, "Don't be a fool. Join your mother and defend your home."_

 _"You are not my mother," Alice answered her stalwartly when her confidence within herself continued to strengthen. "You want to ruin me the way the world ruined you. But I'm not like you. I'm not an outcast. I'm not an orphan or a street rat or some crazy girl who's lost her way. You chose hate."_

 _"But I choose love," she added, recalling how she had looked over at her father again while tears slipped down her cheeks and saw him smiling at her proudly, before she turned back to face the woman claiming to be her mother once more._

 _When Gothel knew she had failed to turn her daughter to her side, the tree nymph became angry and suddenly unleashed all her power within her against Alice, Hook, Gold, and Robin. However, the young girl from Wonderland and other places at last had the strength she needed to fight for those she loved against her mother and unleashed her own power against Gothel in return. It didn't take long before Alice's light magic defeated the villainess, as her power transformed the evil woman into a dead tree, until the Guardian stepped forward once again to give the tree a little life and beauty._

 _The young woman stepped forward and grew a multitude of hyacinth flowers all around its trunk while Tilly whispered to her mother sincerely, "I'm sorry your life twisted into something you never meant it to. I promise I will do better. For everyone."_

For a brief moment, Alice wished to remain where she stood in front of the tree as she mourned for her mother despite the evil woman she had become long ago and what she had done to her and her father. However, Alice also recalled the moment that she spun around again in fear upon hearing her father cry out in pain when he suddenly collapsed against the floor while Gold quickly reached out to catch him in an effort to try to help him before he finally called for an ambulance to come and bring his partner to the hospital, then he slowly lost consciousness.

Now Alice was forced to stand outside of his hospital room, unable to sit by her father's beside where she longed to be so she could hold his hand and help to give him the strength he needed to get well. The same strength which he had given to her so she could set him and her friends free from Gothel's cruelty. She had saved everyone else and the curse was finally broken, but she hadn't been able to save him too. Not from the one curse which still plagued him.

A voice from beside her swiftly broke Tilly from her thoughts and startled her until she turned her head and was surprised to find her father's partner and her close friend standing next to her after he asked her with sincerity, "How is he doing?"

"Rumplestiltskin…" she whispered sadly as she looked into his eyes, then quickly reached up to wipe away the tears in her own. "You're here."

"Yes," Gold stated quietly. "I wanted to see how Rogers… Hook… your father was doing. What he did for you tonight… for all of us really, was very brave and took more strength than I've ever shown when faced with doing the good for others despite the pain I would face to do it."

She let out a few deep breaths to try to keep from sobbing and then turned her head again to keep her eyes on her father while she darkly replied, "You have no idea. Did you know that Papa and I were kidnapped last night? By Gothel and her witch coven?"

He simply nodded, then she continued, "Of course you do. You came back to help me today while I was under their bizarre trance. They threatened his life. My mother did. Held some sort of blade to his throat and told me they would kill him if I didn't help them cast their spell that would have wiped out all of humanity. That they would spill all of his blood. But Papa begged me not to do as she asked of me. He said he was only one life at stake and yet… I couldn't sacrifice him no matter the greater threat. So, I did what she asked. Later, he broke free and tried to break me from their thrall, but the poison in his heart flared then too and he didn't understand why, but he still came back for me this morning with you and Margot… Robin. He didn't even know for sure I was his daughter. He was willing to sacrifice everything for me. Why didn't the curse being broken fix his heart too? Why isn't he okay, when everyone else's memories have been restored and they've been reunited with their loved ones? Why can't we be together too?"

"Because your father's heart was poisoned long before Gothel cast her curse," Gold finally responded in remorse as he looked from the young woman still standing beside him to the man who had become his friend despite the lust for revenge which kept them and their other selves hating one another of over two centuries of their lives. "His poisoned heart wasn't caused by this curse, but by your mother's cruelty."

"She isn't my mother," Alice answered angrily. "She may be by blood, but it was only because she seduced and betrayed my father only so she could give birth to a child that would remain a prisoner in that tower within her place. But Papa… Papa was both a father and a mother to me. Until she poisoned him and took him away from me. He fought for me and she punished him for it. She was never a mother to me."

She took a few moments to try to quell her anger, then out of despair she spoke again saying, "I almost wish the curse was never broken. I mean… I am of course happy it is. For everyone else and I'm happy to know that Detective Rogers is in fact my father like I've somehow always known, just couldn't believe. But at least while we were cursed, Papa and me… we could be together then. We didn't know we were father and daughter, but we were happy. As Rogers, he was the first one to really see me. The first one who ever really cared enough about me to want to help me. Other than perhaps maybe you and then Robin found me while she was still Margot. Thanks to Papa, I got a job I loved with Sabine and we became friends. You and I grew closer too despite me having shot you, because he trusted you and I did too. Then Henry and I became friends thanks to him too. And now… Papa could die tonight despite what the doctor here said about him being alright, all because he risked everything despite his agony in order to give me the strength I needed to defeat Gothel since I was too scared to do it on my own. And the only person who might have been able to save him now is gone. Dead, and I can't…"

Gold finally cut her off before she could continue to blame herself as he replied assuredly, "There is a way to help your father, Alice. We just have to find it. And somehow we will."

"Promise me that we will, Rumple," she sternly responded when she finally turned away from her father again to face his partner and their friend. "Please… promise me that we will find a way to heal his heart together."

"I promise," the Dark One answered while he laid his hand across his chest over his own heart to make the Guardian a vow. "I promise that I will save your father before I one day return to my beloved Belle."

Tilly turned her head upon hearing someone walking towards them as she saw Robin and was about to join her to go to the celebration at Roni's, but then she turned back to Gold once more while she whispered, "Thank you, Rumple. For everything of course, but especially for looking after my father. When he wakes up, can you tell him that you and I will be doing whatever it takes to cure his heart from its poison? He's always promised me he would never stop trying to do so himself, but… every time he tells me, the more depressed he becomes and I can tell it's because he's come to see himself as a failure for not being able to find it yet. He isn't a failure. On second thought, maybe you shouldn't bring that up at all if you can avoid it. I don't want to hurt him any more than what he's already hurting. But please tell him that I'm still his little rook, as he's still my white knight. Tell him I love him. And finally, tell him he's in my heart. I know that I'm always in his.

The Dark One nodded, then replied, "Of course I will. You have my word."

Once the two young women were gone after they left the hospital together, Gold then walked inside Rogers' room and took himself a seat in the chair at his bedside where he planned to sit and wait until his partner reawakened again, not knowing when it would be. But not knowing didn't bother him because it knew it was the right thing to do after what Hook had sacrificed, which resulted in him being here.

A couple of hours passed and at last, Rogers finally began to come to. It took some time before he awoke enough to realize where he was and that Gold was beside him, but once he did, Alice was the first person he spoke of as he weakly asked him if she was alright. He recalled seeing his daughter expel her power to defeat Gothel, but nothing really that happened afterward other than seeing his partner's face leaning over him.

"Crocodile…" Hook uttered frailly. "My daughter… is Alice alright?"

"Your daughter's just fine," Gold responded to him assuredly. "In fact, she was just here to make sure you were oaky as well. She's deeply worried about you. Especially after you collapsed and then lost consciousness shortly after the paramedics arrived and lifted you onto the stretcher. She wanted to come in and sit here beside you where I am now, but… It's killing her that she can't be near you."

His partner gently nodded as he closed his eyes again to try to hide his despair from his friend despite Gold being able to see right through him, and answered, "Just as it's killing me that I can't be near her as well."

When Rogers opened his eyes again, he then asked, "And the others? Is everyone else alright too?"

"They're all fine," Weaver replied again with the same amount of conviction in his voice like before. "Except for Gothel of course. She was the only one defeated tonight and that's thanks to both you and your daughter. What you did for her…"

"I didn't do anything," Hook swiftly interrupted him, having a pretty good idea what his partner was about to say to him. "Gothel's defeat was all thanks to Alice. She's stronger than she knows she is. Always has been."

The older man knew that his partner's denial that he had done anything to help in in their battle against their enemy wasn't spoken out of modesty, but in belief he was a failure to his daughter because he had allowed Gothel to poison his heart in the first place. However, Gold didn't try to object or to tell him how wrong he was for feeling this way, knowing that doing so wouldn't do him any good and because Alice had asked him not to bring up what Hook saw as his failure if he could avoid it.

So, Gold simply responded, "That she is. By the way, she asked me to tell you a few things. Tilly wished me to tell you that you're in her heart, as I'm certain she'll always be in yours. She wanted you to know that she's still your little rook, just as you are still her white knight. And lastly, she wanted you to know that she loves you, Hook. Very deeply."

Rogers looked up at his friend again as a tear slipped down his cheek while he whispered, "As I love her. My little rook."

"Would you do me one more favor and tell the others I'll come to see them as soon as I'm able so we can begin to discuss what's to come for us all now that the curse has been broken?" he then asked, after wiping his eyes to keep anymore tears from falling. "Unless of course, you've already done so?"

"Actually, everyone's simply preparing to celebrate the breaking of the curse and well… reuniting again with their loved ones," Weaver answered regretfully upon thinking of Belle as he said this. "You and I have being unable to be with those we love most in common."

The Dark One finally stood again and then stated, "Get better soon, detective. I will still be needing my partner until you and I both gain our happy endings."

Hook smiled as he reached up to shake Gold's hand and then replied, "Aye. And thank you… For being there for my daughter and for me as well."

Gold nodded, then he left the room again to leave Rogers alone so he could continue to rest. Thankfully, the doctor who took care of him since he was brought in released the detective the next morning. And while Hook couldn't join his daughter at the party to celebrate with her, he was happy just to be able to hear Alice's voice over his phone when she called him to make sure he was well, then smiled when he turned to see her standing before him across the street.

The End


	2. Thank You

Thank you to all who have read and have written reviews for my story! You are much appreciated. I'm deeply honored and I hope to hear from you all again, should you choose to read and enjoy more of my work. Best of wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Kelly


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